Parades and Pictures

I am behind in blogging by about a week. Last Friday we went to the WVU homecoming parade. Michael invited his friend to go and then have a sleepover. A friend ours, Marty, took a great picture of Jen and I which was great because we have not had a good picture of just us in a long time. I took a picture of Dan in his Oscar outfit that he enjoys wearing. It is always fun to see clothing that has been worn now on all four of our kids. Sam has become a excellent reader. He really enjoys it and he reads me stories now. Last night, Mike helped me build a train track for Dan. He is at the age where Sam and Mike loved playing with Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. Dan really loves trains and cars, he is all boy.

Halloween, Hunting and Stilts

Yesterday Jen and I were able to get more of the Halloween decorations done. I decided to make the scarecrow into a skeleton and found an old black hooded jacket to put over the frame. Jen commented that black would be lost in the night so she bleached it and did a great job. I love the way this prop looks now. We also dug the front grave and placed Dr. Bones (this is what the kids call our anatomical skeleton) inside. we are just about ready for Halloween.


October is a pretty hectic month. Hunting season opens two weeks from today. My bow is tuned and sighted in. I am hitting a bullseye each time I shoot an arrow even at 30 yards. I will not take a shot more than 30 yards so I don't worry about practicing at greater distances. I bought my license and have my tags and have about 4 locations that I will be hunting this year. Two spots will be perfect for a ground blind so I picked one up. The kids have enjoyed playing with it in the yard. I hope to be posting my first kill for 2008 in two weeks.






Today we built two pairs of stilts. I needed them for cub scouts this coming Wednesday evening. We had a lot of fun trying them out and seeing how good we are at falling!

Begining of Fall and More Halloween

The signs of fall are finally here in WV. It is turning quite brisk here at night and the leaves are changing and some are falling already. Michael has become quite the tree climber in the past few weeks. Our maple in the backyard is already dropping leaves as you can see in the background of Dan swinging.



I spent part of Saturday working on the inside of the shed hanging bikes. The shed is not completed yet, all I have to do is finish the roof and siding. We were tired of tripping over bikes in the basement so it was time to get them out. The other part of Saturday was working on the front yard graveyard. We have added some tombstones, lights, planters and a scarecrow. The scarecrow is a pneumatic prop which lunges forward when the air valve is turned. I temporarily put this in place to see how it would look. I plan on changing it to be either a ghost or a skeleton instead of a scarecrow. As I told Jen, a scarecrow doesn't make sense being inside a graveyard. We are already getting people slowing down as they drive by to take a look. This should be the best Halloween yet!

Farm, Ice, Fish and Halloween

I need to get better about posting on a daily basis again so that the post is more focused and not so scatterbrained. On Monday evening I had a College of Agriculture Faculty and Staff picnic. The picnic is always held at the WVU Livestock farm. The kids love it because when we are done eating and visiting we head up the hill to the barns to look at all of the animals. We went through the dairy cow, cattle, sheep and pig barns. The kids really enjoyed seeing and petting the baby Holsteins.




Today was a great day. I came home early from work and I brought dry ice home from my lab. The kids enjoyed playing with it while they were doing their homework.


After dinner, Michael, Sam and I went out to the WVU Agronomy Farm (this is the farm where I do my research) for a cub scout activity that I had arranged to go fishing at our pond. This pond is the perfect kid fishing pond, we keep it stocked with bluegills, bass and catfish. Basically every cast, you catch a fish which keeps the kids excited about fishing. Sam caught his first fish tonight and Michael had no luck, the fish kept eating his worms off from his hook. All of the boys from pack 74 had a blast.



Today we were able to get most of the cemetary fence up in our side lot. That's right, Halloween is right around the corner and I am getting ready for my favorite non-Christian holiday. I made a fence that runs nearly 40 feet across our front lot and then curves toward the house with a gate in the front yard. I plan on making 15 - 20 tombstones to go into the graveyard. I also received my pneumatic scarecrow in the mail which when activated lunges toward people passing by. I am thinking about converting it to be a skeleton and placing it on the edge of the cemetery so it fits with the theme more. I am very excited about Halloween and I hope to get a few more screams this year.

Vote Obama '08, Just Kidding!

We were at Kmart yesterday and we found Obama campaigning there and we caught him picking his nose. I don't think I can vote for a candidate that spends his day picking his nose at Kmart. We also found Hillary walking about as well. I don't think she has accepted the fact that Obama did not pick her for VP.

Last Bit of Magic

Thursday, Sept 11th was our last day at the Magic Kingdom and our last day going to the parks. We tried to get going early because it was an Extra Magic Hour for the Magic Kingdom. Going to the parks was fun, we met a lot of people from all over the US and the world. We met a nice family from Cedar Rapids, IA who had a daughter Sam's age. We briefly spoke with them while waiting for the bus a few days before. We ended up waiting for the bus again on Thursday and decided to go around a bit of the park together. It was fun watching the kids make friends while at Disney. It truly is a magical place.

As we were walking into the park we were able to meet Mary Poppins and Bert. It is so cool to interact with the characters, especially 'live' people and not ones in full body costumes. Mary and Bert both spoke with British accents and asked how our holiday was. We also met the Mayor of Main Street, U.S.A and Dan really wanted to get his picture taken with him. He cried as we walked pass him and I had to run back with him so he could get it. It cracked me up. The Mayor and Dan really hit if off.



We went straight to Tomorrow Land since we had been through the entire park the previous two days. We asked each of the kids what their favorite rides were so that everyone would be able to ride their favorite one more time. Everyone's favorite rides were in Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land. We rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and I was able to get the highest score that is possible on the ride. We then headed back to the Indy Speedway because I didn't get tossed around enough by the kids driving the first time. Again, we did the rider switch so we were able to go around the track twice without getting out of the cars. We went on Mad Tea Party a couple more times. Again, while we were on the tea cups, Alice and the Mad Hatter got on the ride and road with us. Prefect timing. Dan and I road together and he is a great spinner because he doesn't turn it much. We had a late lunch scheduled which was perfectly timed to be right after the parade so we headed over to Frontier Land. As we entered Frontier Land we ran into Woody and his gang. The kids really love Toy Story so they enjoyed seeing everyone. After the Round-up we went on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Becca loved both of these rides and she was the only one that would ride them a second time when Jen and I did the rider swap pass. I was able to get a great picture of Jen and Becca going down the big plunge on Splash Mountain. We also took a stroll over to Tom Sawyer's Island. I really could have done without this but I was able to get a great picture of the Haunted Mansion (one of the Magic Kingdom's best rides of all time) from the island. After this we headed back to Main Street U.S.A. to find a seat for the parade. The parade was great, it is always a treat to remember how fun a parade really is (we can be seen in the reflection of the mirrors from the float below Chip). During the parade, Goofy spotted Michael with his Goofy hat on and pointed to his own hat and gave Michael two big thumbs up and a huge wave. Michael was so happy to see that Goofy noticed him and interacted with him from a parade float going by. After the parade we headed over to lunch with Winnie the Pooh and Friends at the Crystal Palace.

Again, lunch was outstanding. The food was great, the service was great and best of all we met all of the Hundred Acre Woods characters. Sam was ecstatic (see his face in the first picture below when Tigger came out to meet everyone, a priceless picture) because he finally was going to meet Tigger, his favorite character. He had purchased a Tigger hat just for this meeting so he could get it signed by him.








While we were eating it began to rain. This time it didn't finish while we were eating. We looked for a few placed to go so that Dan and Becca would get a nap and we could stay dry. We ended up riding two of my least favorite rides at Disney, Torrowland Transit Authority and Carousel of Progress. At least we stayed dry and the kids enjoyed the ride.

We stayed late for the Spectromagic Parade which was really beautiful and for the fireworks. This time we followed the advice that I found online and watched the fireworks from behind the castle. This was the perfect spot. Instead of 30,000 people standing shoulder to shoulder there were a couple hundred of people watching them there. Becca fell asleep but Dan was wide awake since he had a nap earlier. We bought ice cream sundaes and sat waiting for the fireworks to start. While we were waiting I asked the boys if they wanted to ride Dumbo one last time and they all were excited. We timed it perfectly because while we were riding, the fireworks started and we had fireworks going off over our heads while we were on the ride. Jen and I both agreed that this was one of the best firework displays we had ever seen especially with the lack of people as well. It was an absolutely perfect way to end the day and our trip to Disney World.